


Letters from the 1600's

by salytierra (octavaluna)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Courtly Love, Historical Hetalia, Historical References, M/M, Marriage, Mild descriptions of violence, Religious Allegory, he's also slightly bonkers and sadistic but what else is new?, letter format, thank God for small mercies, this is the 1600's so Spain is not the most humble bean out there but he honestly loves his husband
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 21:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9566348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octavaluna/pseuds/salytierra
Summary: Even the most powerful man in the world can fall in love, and when the battlefield has gone quiet for a few hours, the only thing left to do is write back home.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A love letter and a SpAus study in character relationships. This is what happens when I listen to Warcry at 3am. 
> 
> I tried to get into Spain’s head back in the early modern age, to recreate the way he saw himself and his actions, his beliefs and his feelings for his spouse.
> 
>  
> 
> **Author's notes**
> 
>  
> 
> \- This story (like all of mine) operates under the canon that Spain and Austria have been married from 1519 to 1714 and the head-canon that they actually came to love each other in the course of their union. 
> 
> \- _[... pray to Saint James before saddling my horse and scream his name and my own at the top of my lungs...]_  
>  "¡Por las Españas y por Santiago!" (For Spain and for Saint James) Was the slogan/battlecry of the Tercios. Elite units of the Spanish army that employed not mercenaries but trained men of the same origin and that promoted loyalty to each other, their fatherland and the king/queen. 
> 
> \- This time, I haven't placed this in any war in particular or any year in concrete precisely to give it a feeling of atemporality, and to focus more on his feelings rather than the facts and numbers.
> 
> * * *

 

_Dear Roderich,  
_

_The battle is over for today but the war is just beginning. I have so much to tell you. We won, and I can still feel the beat of life and the smell of death on my skin. Usually, I pretend to be jovial and relieved in front of my men while in truth I can’t wait for the battlefield to wake up again. But tonight, the air is too cold and the victory came sour with the loss of too many good warriors. I ache to take my halberd and swords in my callused hands and avenge them. Tomorrow, I will pray to Saint James before saddling my horse and scream his name and my own at the top of my lungs, with my blades high in the air. My men will echo my call. Will you, wherever you are, echo my prayers?_

_I know you must miss me already. In moments like these, with the light of the bonfire dancing over the parchment in this freezing, humid night, I miss you too. So much it’s almost enough to make me question my decision to leave your side. A more sophisticated man would rather hear the sound of your music or the sharp words rolling off your tongue. However, I am a simple creature and often catch myself longing after the scent of your skin or the enchanting curve of those sweet lips of yours. But the pleasures of the flesh and the heart fall away with the rise of the sun, drowned in the shadow of my duty. I’m a soldier, first and foremost, a servant of heaven and the messenger of the Holy Trinity._

_I built myself up from blood and sacrifice. I rose and survived in one breath, and then tore to threads whoever stood in my way. Alone, always alone, but my solitude is no more. I am the saviour that will cleanse this world of the putrid seed of heresy, and there is nothing that will be able to stop me until I’m done. That’s why I fill my ranks with men that carry the word of God in their hearts and the cry for the fatherland and the apostle in their lungs. Brothers in arms and my prodigy children, the best of the best and the worst of the worst at the same time._

_In the ecstasy of this high you almost feel like a dream to me sometimes. Until I forget that you are not, in fact, a phantom created by my mind, and that I’m not fantasising like my men often do, of someone waiting for them back home, of someone to call home._

_Please, believe me when I swear that I want to be good for you. I want to stay by your side and make you happy, like any loving spouse should. However, I can’t help but run away every time. I run even when I don’t have to, because I just can’t stand still. The monotony of the peace and the court ceremonies weighs on me and constricts my throat. I need to be there when my armies fall like the the Lord’s hammer over our enemies. Where the flames of destiny dance in my feet, eyes and heart. I am so much more than a mere sheep in the Father’s flock. I am an avenging angel, I am the word, I am the law, judge and executioner. I feel almost as comfortable and alive between blood and death, myths and pain, as I do in your arms._

_You saw it during the few blessed times that we fought side by side. It’s chaos and madness, and the rush of victory in my veins. I think it scared you a little bit, whatever you saw in me. But this fight is my destiny, what I was born for. It’s all I’ve ever known since I was first able to hold a weapon in my hands. This is what I am. This is whom you married._

_All I ask of you, my beloved, is a bit patience, a lot of forgiveness, and to pray for me however long I’m going to be gone._

_In return, you just need to say a word and I will bring you the head of whoever wrongs you on a silver platter. I long to cover you in gold and glory, to honour your every breath and inch of skin. I will convert my every step into a legend, and when my feet carry me back to your side, minstrels will sing tales of a love story that extends beyond the edges of the known world._

_As always, your faithful servant, before the eyes of God and men,_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [This story actually has a fancy-formatted tumblr post. ](http://salytierra.tumblr.com/post/156775691843/dear-roderich-the-battle-is-over-for-today-but)If you liked it and could reblog it you’d do me a big honor~


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